Subscribe

Search The Techie

Spotify is working on the release of a $100 voice-controlled in-car music player this year, The Financial Times says, marking its first foray into hardware. FT says the company has been working with electronics manufacturer Flex to build out the device which would come cheaper than most brand-name car stereo systems if a $100 price stands firm.

Rumors of hardware ambitions for Spotify first emerged June last year after the company registered with the Federal Communications Commission, a move towards getting approval to sell wireless hardware in the U.S. Spotify also introduced a new "car view" mode for its Android app just this week, signalling a focus on the automotive market.

A recent survey from voice tech publication Voicebot.ai indicate that some 77 million U.S. adults use voice assistants in their cars, compared with 45.7 million using them on smart speakers. Cars are arguably a best use for voice technology as drivers might prefer voice control rather than touchscree…

The Rise of Sebastian Thrun, From Google To Udacity to Kitty Hawk

At the (2005) DARPA Grand Challenge, the renowned racing event for American autonomous vehicles, Stanford professor Sebastian Thrun led the development of its self-driving vehicle Stanley which took home the prize and has been placed on exhibit in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

Thrun also led the development of Junior which emerged second at the 2007 DARPA Grand Challenge, Think that's enough? He also led the development of the Google self-driving car. It's obvious, Thrun is an expert in this field. He was elected into the National Academy of Engineering and also into the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2007. Fast Company selected him as the fifth most creative person in the business world. Thrun has many achievements to his name.

The 'Stanley' autonomous vehicle developed by the Stanford team in 2005

He kicked off his career at the Carnegie Mellon University computer science department where he joined as a research computer scientist in 1995. Three years later, he became assistant professor and co-director of the university's Robot Learning Laboratory. Thrun spent a leave year in 2001 at Stanford University and headed back to CMU till he left in 2003 to take up a full-time position at Stanford.

He joined as an associate professor and was appointed director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in 2004, 7 years later, he then joined Google some time after this where he founded Google X, Its semi-secret research and development facility. History then kicked off.

A younger Google co-founder Larry Page stands beside the 'Stanley' autonomous vehicle developed by a team lead by Thrun

At Google, he led the development of its self-driving vehicle program, scaling of a team from 15 to a high number building what has today become self-driving industry leader Waymo. As of then, a self-driving project was an example of Google's willingness to make bets on technology that may not pay off for years, As of now, the use of autonomous vehicles hasn't become widespread but with Waymo at the top, it stands to own a large market share when the industry becomes more mature and integrates into everyday use. Just when is that? No one can really tell.

With Google's self-driving team maturing, Thrun took on another project, Udacity - an outgrowth of free computer science classes offered in 2011 through Stanford University - Udacity offers online training on professional skills ranging from autonomous vehicle development to cyber-security, virtual reality, data science, predictive analytics for business, machine learning and even flying car development.

Sebastian Thrun wears a Google Glass, a product developed by Google X which he founded while at the company

It builds programs in partnerships with companies including Amazon, Mercedes-Benz, Didi Chuxing, IBM, Nvidia and Google. As of current, its current departments are schools of artificial intelligence, data science, programming, autonomous systems and business. It offers Nanodegrees for students who pay a fee to complete courses on its platform.

According to Thrun, the company derives it name from a desire to be "audacious for you, the student", It initially focused on university-style courses but has moved onto vocational courses for professionals. April 2016, Thrun stepped down as CEO of Udacity heading on to flying car developer Kitty Hawk where he currently serves as CEO.

Cora, an all-electric air taxi made by the Kitty Hawk Corporation

image : Kitty Hawk

Flyer, another all-electric flying vehicle developed by the Kitty Hawk Corporation

image : Kitty Hawk

The name of the company comes from the beaches of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina where the Wright brothers took flight for the first time in 1903, Its leadership include CEO Sebastian Thrun, COO Deanna White who previously led private jet company Flexjet, former Twitter SVP of Engineering Alex Roetter and Fred Reid, the CEO of Zephyr Airworks, Kitty Hawk’s operator in New Zealand.

Kitty Hawk is backed by Google co-founder Larry Page and has also received funding from the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUX) along with aerospace company Joby Aviation. Another question pops up now, when do we get flying cars? We still can't tell yet, But the future holds many surprises.

Get link

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Google+

Email

Other Apps

Reactions:

Get link

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Google+

Email

Other Apps

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Read Posts

Apple and Qualcomm are in the midst of a legal battle regarding licensing and royalty payments for use of the latter's chips, a business method Apple is pushing against which has led to a fallout between both companies. The ongoing suit has seen Apple COO Jeff Williams testify that Qualcomm refused to supply chips for 2018 iPhones and Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf argue that its push to become the sole supplier of iPhone chips, one that regulators term as anti-competitive conduct was in response to a $1 billion "incentive payment" demanded by Apple.

But leaked e-mails between Williams and Mollenkopf seen by Bloomberg suggests that both companies may have cut ties over a software dispute. "In my wildest imagination of some evil intention of Apple, I have trouble coming up with a real scenario where anything of significant value could be leaked based on this code," Williams penned in September 2017.

Google has entered an agreement with Fossil Group to purchase $40 million worth of smartwatch technology and a portion of its research & development team, the technology being unspecified and what Wareable says is a “new product innovation that’s not yet hit the market,” as told by Fossil’s executive vice president of chief strategy Greg McKelvey.

“Wearables, built for wellness, simplicity, personalization and helpfulness, have the opportunity to improve lives by bringing users the information and insights they need quickly, at a glance. The addition of Fossil Group’s technology and team to Google demonstrates our commitment to the wearables industry by enabling a diverse portfolio of smartwatches and supporting the ever-evolving needs of the vitality-seeking, on-the-go consumer,” vice president of product management for Google WearOS Stacey Burr said in a statement.

“Fossil Group has experienced significant success in its wearables business by focusing on product design and deve…

Volkswagen, set to announce an alliance with automaker Ford this Tuesday has not yet decided to collaborate with the company on self-driving cars, Its CEO Herbert Diess said, speaking to reporters in a roundtable at the North American International Auto Show.

“There’s still a lot of hype” about driverless vehicles and "a lot of money flowing in, but I think it’s still a long way to go until we really get the first paybacks,” Diess said. “There’s one alternative, which could be joining forces with Ford. It’s not yet decided. But it’s still a long way to go, many millions to be poured in and probably some setbacks to expect.”

In November, Volkswagen was reported to be considering an investment in Ford's Argo AI self-driving unit and also looking to share electric vehicle technology with Ford, tapping into the high amounts it has committed for battery powered vehicles.

Both companies have scheduled a tele-conference to reveal the results of discussions between them but Diess in…

Match Group, the Dallas based online dating company behind popular services including Tinder, OkCupid and PlentyOfFish and its parent firm IAC has filed a lawsuit against Tinder co-founder and ex CEO Sean Rad alleging theft of company files and other proprietary files. The lawsuit filed in a Manhattan state court on Tuesday claims $250 million in damages.

It comes six months after Rad and other Tinder co-founders filed a $2 billion lawsuit against IAC, alleging it manipulated data to lessen Tinder's valuation and rob them of stock options, and that former CEO Greg Blatt engaged in sexual harassment.

IAC is now alleging that Rad in violation of an employment agreement, created backups of internal e-mails, directly copied company files that include “highly sensitive, non-public information concerning his employers’ business strategies and plans.” and forwarded company e-mails to personal addresses.

Tinder's history has had a share of lawsuits beginning from that of co-founder W…

Apple has been ordered by a German court to stop use of part of a press release stating all iPhones would be available for purchase in the country through resellers and carriers after being banned from selling the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 models in the country following a patent dispute with Qualcomm, a copy of a filing examined by Reuters show.

“The press release ... is misleading as it contains statements that are at least potentially deceptive about the availability of the goods, namely the iPhones affected by the ruling,” A three-judge panel penned in the latest ruling. Qualcomm obtained this injunction against Apple on Thursday after a similar move in China.

At the time, Apple said it would no longer sell the iPhone 7 and 8 at its 15 retail locations in Germany but the models would remain available through over 4,300 carriers and resellers in the country.

Airbnb today announced a number of milestones which include being profitable for a second year on an EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) basis in 2018. This counts as a plus as the company heads for an IPO reported to be taking place this year.

It also says it's on track to hit 500 million guest arrivals on its platform by the end of Q1 this year. While specific figures are not provided, the company exceeded its 2017 projections with $93 million in profit on $2.6 billion in revenue, Bloomberg says with CEO Brian Chesky promising a public offering before 2020 when some employee stock grants expire.

This month, longtime Amazon executive Dave Stephenson joined the company as chief financial officer, a key role in preparation for an IPO after its previous CFO Laurence Tosi left last year amid a disagreement with Chesky.

“He (Dave Stephenson) will use his experience in growing large businesses quickly at scale to ensure we are investing for both gro…

According to The Washington Post, the Federal Trade Commission is considering imposing a 'record-setting' fine against Facebook for violation of a legally binding agreement to protect the privacy of its users' data, citing three people familiar with the case. The Post says the fine is expected to be much higher than the record $22.5 million fine imposed against Google in 2012 for a similar issue.

It says the FTC's exact findings in a probe that began last year against Facebook has not been finalized with a plan to issue a formal recommendation for a fine expected soon. Facebook has faced lots of backlash and probes regarding handling of user data ranging from the Cambridge Analytica saga that affected 87 million of its users to reports of data scraping on Android users and even a hiring of opposition research firm Definers Public Affairs, targeting financier George Soros who has criticized the company's privacy practices.

Drone maker DJI has discovered several cases of corruption and expects 2018 losses of over 1 billion yuan ($150 million) as a result, the company said on Friday. It says the cases came to light during routine quality control last year and has kicked off investigation, handing a number of employees to authorities already.

According to state-run China Securities Journal citing an internal report, more than 40 people at the consumer drone manufacturer had been investigated on this issue. This counts as a minority for the company which employed 12,000 people as of 2018 end. “DJI condemns any form of corruption strongly and has set up a high-level anti-corruption task force to investigate further and strengthen anti-corruption measures,” DJI said.

“A number of corruption cases have been handed over to the authorities, and some employees have been dismissed,” It added. Headquartered in Shenzhen, 12 year old DJI is the world leading consumer drone manufacturer with a 74% market share accord…

Facebook has announced it's investing $300 million over three years on local news partnerships and programming globally, allotting investments to expand memberships and subscription accelerators. It has already distributed $16 million among various journalism non-profits and organizations including the American Journalism Project, Community News Project, Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund, Report for America and the Pulitzer Center as part of this effort.

It's investing the same amount allocated for a similar project last year by Google, the ‘Google News Initiative’ through which the company gives out money to “help stimulate innovation in digital journalism” among European publishers. The company last year shifted its News Feed algorithm in favor of more “meaningful interactions” and less Page/news content, This evolved to focus on trusted local news for its users indicating efforts in this space.

Just after SpaceX, Elon Musk's Tesla has announced it's cutting its full-time employee headcount by 7% while it focuses on increasing the Model 3 production rate and improving manufacturing, two crucial points it says it requires to produce the standard range (220 mile), standard interior Model 3 at $35k and still stand as a viable company.

Tesla touts 2018 as its most successful year in history, having delivered almost as many cars as it did in all of 2017 in the last quarter alone and as many last year as it did in all of its prior years of existence combined. The Model 3 also became the best-selling premium vehicle in the U.S for the year.

But of current, its most affordable vehicle is the mid-range (264 mile) Model 3 with premium sound and interior at $44,000 with the need for a lower priced variant a key one for stability. On the 1st of July, a tax credit for Tesla vehicles is fully phasing out and will make its vehicles $1,875 more expensive for buyers.